A Birthday Countdown
by DragoneseElf
Summary: A BIRTHDAY PRESENT FOR CPTCRAZY148! A collab fic by me and Purple Cat Princess. Six was ticked off. The reason? A simple sentence: "Oh yeah, it is my birthday in four days."


**A/N: This is a birthday present for cptcrazy148 from Purple Cat Princess and I! **

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY CRAZYYYY! XD XD XD**

**Elfie and Princess: *jump out of an air vent onto Crazy* Happy Birthday to you~~~**

* * *

><p>Six was ticked off.<p>

He didn't even know quite why he was so angry, but he could feel his stoic face slipping into a frown despite his repeated efforts to keep it calm.

He prowled through the hallways, nearly snarling at anyone who glanced at him. He shook his head. Where was he heading again? Looking up, he saw the door to Holiday's lab looming at the end of the hallway.

Oh yes.

That's why he was so miffed.

_"Oh yeah, it is my birthday in four days."_

Six's eyes narrowed behind his shades as he heard the same sentence that had been ringing in his ears for the entire day. He and Rex had decided to end training early, and Rex had insisted on going up to Holiday's lab to get a small cut checked. As they were about to walk in, a sentence from Holiday had struck them both speechless.

It was almost Holiday's birthday. And she had never told them.

Six scowled again. Yes, he knew that no one else knew when _his _birthday was, but this was different. This was Holiday—the joyful, caring, energetic doctor. She always spouted her emotions everywhere she went…and she had hidden this vital fact from him?

Of course, Rex had just let loose a mischievous smile, and ran away muttering something about a surprise party, and how Holiday would have to take him on a date after this.

For once, it had been Six who had been left awkwardly behind the door, unsure of what to do. Finally, he had disappeared before Holiday could come and find him, but that same sentence refused to leave his head.

He wasn't even sure what he was going to do when he found her now. Interrogate her? Question her about why she didn't tell him anything?

Six sighed, his anger seeping away. He shouldn't expect anything from her, really. Not when he was the one who kept almost everything about himself shrouded in shadows.

He stepped into the lab when the door slid open. It was quiet. Six twitched an eyebrow—Holiday was almost never away from her lab. He slipped silently back through the doorway and headed off in the opposite direction. She was probably in her office, filling out paperwork.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, Six was standing in the shadowy room, right in front of the desk that was the main feature in Holiday's office.<p>

Alone.

He raised an eyebrow again. Where was Holiday? It was odd in itself that she was away from the lab, but now she wasn't in her office either. Had she gone to sleep?

Frowning, Six was about to turn around and leave, when he heard the slightest sound.

_Thud._

Six glanced around the room quickly, detecting nothing out of place.  
><em><br>Thud._

Six cocked his head, angling it toward the empty desk. It seemed to be coming from that side of the room…

_Thud. Thud._

Six crossed over to the wall behind the desk, and leaned in, ears straining for sound.

_THUD._

There! It was definitely coming from the other side of the wall. Six took a step back, puzzled again. He reached into his memory, scanning through the blueprints of the base that he had memorized.

There was no room on the other side of that wall. There wasn't even any way to get there. It was just a large empty area, mostly filled with all the old paint and other supplies that had been left over after the original construction of the building.

Six stared at the wall, deep in thought. Then suddenly, he turned on his heel and whipped around the corner.

Six didn't need doors to get anywhere. He had his own ways…

* * *

><p>Six stopped again, tilting his head to listen for the mysterious thuds. Satisfied that he was still moving in the right direction, he began shuffling forward on his hands and knees again.<p>

He sighed at himself—the amazing Agent Six, sixth deadliest man in the world, reduced to crawling like a baby.

In an air vent.

Six shook his head again. He was just glad that Rex didn't have any idea where he was, or what he was doing. The Latino teenager would never let him live it down. Not to mention that Rex could get into three times the trouble he currently did if he even had an inkling of the secret passageways that air vents could access.

Suddenly, he stopped, and squinted into the lightening gloom.

There was a small opening up ahead—and the thuds were getting louder with every shuffle forward.

Six crept silently to the opening, and peered through it, his face carefully hidden in the shadows.

And stared.

And stared some more.

Instead of a musty, dust-filled room, he was looking at a bright, well-equipped training room.

There were several moving targets lined up against the back wall, racing back and forth as bullets rained down on them, hardly ever missing. There were a few other pads, dummies, and robots in a pile against the adjacent wall—they seemed to be for hand-to-hand combat.

And standing in the middle of it all was Holiday.

She had a gun up to her shoulder, and was firing in quick succession, twisting and turning to track the swift targets. Instead of her normal lab attire, she was dressed in track pants and a snug tee. Her hair was falling out of her bun, her face and neck were covered with a thin coat of sweat, her lipstick was slightly smeared.

She looked beautiful.

Six rubbed his face. Where had that thought come from?

Then, he glanced back down to Holiday, eyes captivated by her lithe form. He had always wondered how she kept her battle skills in top form when she was working in the lab all day (and often night) long. He marveled at her agility as she dropped low to avoid a sudden onslaught of darts that shot out of the robots.

Six watched her eagerly for a while longer, and then tore his eyes away with a heavy heart. He needed to get moving and go back to his room.

As he crawled along once more, seeing a slim figure leaping and dodging before his eyes, his hand suddenly met air.

He turned, a frown on his face as he noticed a smaller passageway leading out to his right. It seemed to be leading back around to where Holiday's secret training room was…

Six tried to resist his curiosity, but his body refused to listen. Sighing once more, he maneuvered himself into the winding vent, stopping every once in a while to get his bearings.

A few minutes later, he found a narrow vent opening on the floor of the passageway. Six peered through it, and noted that he was on top of a small adjoining room to the main training room.

Silently, he eased the cover off the floor, and dropped into the room below, landing lightly on the balls of his feet. He glanced around the room, noticing every detail in the cramped space. There was a desk, cluttered with just as many papers as her office (seriously, how much work did she do?), the chair behind it draped with her lab coat. There was a small closet off to the side, with her signature boots tipped over in front of it. A small table, a water glass—it was really quite sparse.

He turned back to her desk, and shifted some papers around, uncovering a sleek black laptop. He picked it up, setting it on the edge of the desk closest to him as he opened the top. He was just about to turn on the power when his ears pricked at the sudden silence.

The noise from the training room had stopped.

Six instantly leaped away from the laptop, looking around him in vain for an escape. He glanced upward again—the air vent was his only way out.

Quickly gauging the distance, he bounced forward again, one foot landing on the edge of the desk as he propelled himself forward, hands catching the edge of the opening in the ceiling. Gracefully, he pulled himself up, quickly replacing the cover and scooting away on his hands and knees again.

But back in the room, Six didn't see the slight waver in the laptop still perched awkwardly on the edge of the desk.

He didn't see it pitch forward slightly…

…and begin its lethal descent to the ground.

* * *

><p>Holiday grunted, ignoring the weight her muscles seemed to gain with every motion as she proceeded to pound target after target with a barrage of bullets. Her red workout shoes squeaked lightly on the floor as she bounced, staying loose and quick—it would do her no good to practice otherwise. She tucked into herself, rolling over her shoulder and landing on one knee as she shot at the last target, one green eye closed and the other wide open.<p>

Setting her gun down, she smiled and stood up, muttering to herself. "Well that seems to be a good day of practice. Nothing too intense," she yawned while stretching, "ran a bit late today though."

She picked up her gun again, moving to get the cleaning supplies from her changing room/office away from the office. (Sometimes working in that cramped little space was more peaceful than trying to file reports with Rex buzzing around her.) She hummed happily, taking her hair out of her bun, positive no one was watching. (Six couldn't be the only one with an outfit obsession now could he.) She ran her fingers though her hair, opening the door with the hand not holding her gun, her green eyes closed. As she opened them she observed the horror placed before her.

Her laptop, her baby, her love child of intelligence and information was dead!

She held down a screech of fury that was only silenced by the fact that this little training alcove was her little secret that she didn't want anyone to find.

There was going to be blood. That was for sure.

She quietly stormed out of her little office, marching to her room while deciding just this once that it was perhaps better to go to sleep angry than to stay up plotting revenge.

She dreamed of mouse traps and laptop babies.

When Holiday awoke the next day to rays of bright sunshine and birds chirping in the distance she was no more pleasant than she was the night before. With a rueful rage she showered, scrubbing her body hard. She brushed her teeth with a particular hate in her eyes, pulled up her hair with vengeful force, and snatched her clothes from her closet with a burning vigor of wicked ire and pulled them on with a wrath only a woman could conjure.

She tromped to her office eyes bright with indignation. She slammed a hand onto her desk pounding the keys of her outdated computer in her main office as though they had done her a personal sin.

Her mood had yet to lighten even a shade by the time Rex and Six walked in an hour or so later—if anything her mood had been painted another coat of black.

Rex grinned at her, completely oblivious to the demon-like fury building in the good doctor before him. "Hey Doc! Do you have any tests for me today or can I plan yo-… go see Noah?"

The usually brilliant doctor didn't even notice the near slip-up. "Yes, fine Rex. I have a lot of paperwork to fill out… not to mention files to save…" She mumbled the last part to herself.

She didn't even notice the poor green ninja in the background swallowing a lump of guilt he told himself didn't exist.

* * *

><p>For the second time in less than two full days, Six found himself on his hands and knees, crawling through the air vents.<p>

He stopped by the opening that looked over Holiday's training room, following her movements as she spun around, practicing her hand-to-hand combat skills against a bulky robot.

This time, though, Six noted that her easy grace and agility had slipped somewhat. Instead of ducking swiftly under the robot's arm, her legs were stiff, barely bending enough to allow her to leap backwards.

Six felt his eyebrows pull together. This was all his fault. He had wormed into her secret sanctum, broken her prized laptop, and on top of that, it was only three days until her birthday!

Then, his worried face settled into its usual stoic mask. He was going to make it up to her—and by the time her birthday arrived, the word "sad" would cease to exist in her world.

His gaze lingering on her face, he shuffled swiftly through the vents into the small winding passageway, and dropped back into the cramped office room again. Striding up to her desk, he reached into his jacket and brought out a small note. He placed it carefully on her desk, making sure that it was visible before he used her chair as a springboard once more—sliding up into the vent within seconds. His eyes were still fixed on the note as he lay the cover back over the vent.

Starting from now, her birthday countdown had begun.

* * *

><p>Holiday pulled her hair out of her tight bun as she did every night at this time. Training had helped relieve some of her stress, as it always did, but now the crying urge was settling in. Half of her life was on that laptop. All her research that she did for herself, her personal files (she had always had a knack for poetry but had been too shy to share), her photos of her family, and her photos of Rex as he grew up in Providence. Even her photos of Six… the few he had willingly let her take…<p>

She sighed deeply, ignoring the stinging in her eyes. She was too old to cry over a little broken laptop anyway, even if it was the epitome of everything she loved about her job—and that her life and her family were stored on it.

Replaceable… it's all replaceable.

She set her gun down, spotting a small sheet of paper, printed out with block lettering. With a curious bite on her bottom lip she picked up the paper as though it were a fragile doll, reading it slowly. Logic would follow that whoever broke her laptop knew about her secret room, and therefore the only person who could have left this small note, would have been the one to break her laptop, but for whatever reason she couldn't muster the proper rage at the paper she should. Lord knows she had plenty of rage to muster this morning. But whoever put it there must know of her ever-expanding love of riddles because the words seemed to taunt her as she read them over.

**'I'm a special friend, by two.  
>I define your little group, and key too!<br>I'm a number that has great importance for now,  
>but soon I'll be taking my ending bow.<strong>

**In fact, if you search, I'm present on every line; in fact, I always appear at the same time!**

**A final instruction once you discover me,**

**Come to the _ room on the _ floor at _. Just substitute me, and I'm sure you will be just fine.'**

She closed her eyes in concentration, relaying every line in her mind trying to see the numbers this poem teased her with. She read over the first line again, looking for numbers this time.

The number two was even on the last line, but that was too easy.

By two meant something was being divided… a special friend… special agent Six was certainly a special friend and Six divided by two was three! Three! There was no other number it could be! Now the second line.

She furrowed her bows sitting on her desk and crossing her legs. 'I define your group.' She assumed it was a number, simple enough, three. There was her, Six, and Rex. Also the key to her office had three protrusions on it. Three again.

A number with great importance, but only temporarily… well she wasn't a shallow person, but her birthday excited her just as much now as it did when she was a kid (not that she would ever tell anyone) and it was three days away!

Three, three, three! Third floor, third room, at three o'clock!

With this answer in mind she changed hastily into her skirt and orange sweater, opting not to wear her white lab coat, as it would make the heat of night Providence even worse. She tip toed quietly…well, as quietly as a woman with sore legs could. None the less, Holiday slipped down the stairwell, running her fingertips along the walls while counting the doors.

One… two… three…

She stepped inside, checking the clock. She was five minutes late, give or take thirty seconds. She gently flipped on a light switch to find herself in one of the older and much less used labs packed with old dusty near-prehistoric equipment that Holiday thought even preschoolers shouldn't waste their time bothering with.

She snapped out of her sleep-deprivation driven side thought about all the old things Providence kept around and batted down a thought about how old White Knight looked as well. She remembered her purpose for showing up in the dead of night in the ghostly lab. Her eyes scanned for a person, a little too hopefully, but finding no one she furrowed her brow. She even had a speech written just behind her eyes in her brilliant mind about the destruction of another's property.

None the less she searched for something there.

Her palms slipped along each device as she walked, and stepped until her eyes landed on just what she was looking for. A small paper with three pink wrapped chocolates holding it down, the only thing not covered in a layer of filth in the lab. But her eyes got even brighter as she spotted a laptop in sleep mode, its screen black as a cat waiting for her.

She gently moved the mouse to see a word document opened in simple bolded letters teasing, 'Three days left Doctor.'

She gently closed the lid of the laptop, picking up it and the chocolates (after popping one into her mouth of course) and made the quiet trek to her bedroom pondering on the secret person. She instantly ruled out Rex, there was no way he came up with something so clever, much less bought her a laptop. It couldn't be Six, he didn't know when her birthday was. Caesar maybe, he certainly had the brilliance and corniness to not only find her secret training room, but also to buy her a laptop and invent such a brilliant riddle.

The next day Rex could only wonder why Holiday had been so grumpy yesterday and so cheerful today.

Six could only watch her, amused.

* * *

><p>She was so beautiful.<p>

Six nearly had to slap himself. His thoughts were getting out of hand.

But, a voice in his head sneakily answered, what else could make you crawl around in dusty old air vents for _three days in a row_, spend hours racking your brains for good clues, and now cart bags full of—

This time Six did smack himself.

He winced a bit, but couldn't take his eyes off of her, dancing and leaping away from the robots' attacks, and finishing them off with quick and accurate shots. Even from this distance, he could see a new, endless supply of energy in her movements. There were no errors or stiffness today.

As he watched, she swung her gun around, slamming a robot back a few feet before using the momentum of her spin to level the gun with her eyes once more and shoot the next two closing in on her. She let loose a merry laugh, swiping her bangs off her sweaty face.

Six's gaze softened at the sound of her happiness, his own mouth moving to mirror her excitement with his own small smirk. He shifted his sore knees a bit, and remembered the full bag sitting next to him.

His loving smirk twisted into one more reminiscent of a naughty Rex, and he quickly hauled the bag in front of him, navigating the passageways back to her secret office.

After all, it was day two of the birthday countdown.

* * *

><p>Holiday grabbed a small towel to dry her sweat—today she had worked extra hard. She had been working on a device to predict EVO transformation with Caesar all day and he hadn't seemed even remotely like he a) knew about her hidden training area and mini-office, b) been the one to leave the riddle, or c) seemed even remotely guilty about her broken laptop. And if he was as good a liar as Rex he would have let something slip within the first twenty minutes. Unless he was an evil mastermind with a nasty plot up his sleeve and was hiding that all the time, she doubted he had the power to let such a big secret stay quiet for the fourteen hours they had been working together.<p>

So that ruled Caesar out. She spun quickly, shooting at the three targets that sprang up, knocking them down quickly, and walked to the wall panel to turn off the spring loaded targets.

She yawned loudly, stretching her arms above her head and pulling her hair down while relaxing her green eyes as she walked toward her hidden office.

She paused for half a beat as she heard a dull thud above her.

But, deciding it was both too late at night and too trivial to care about, she entered the threshold with a huge grin snaking across her lips.

She was officially in love with this mystery laptop murderer.

Before her were various chocolates scattered about her desk, and a plush teddy bear sitting atop a piece of small paper. It was holding hands with another equally huggable bear positioned next to it cutely. She could barely contain her excitement at the cheesy and adorable presents. She lifted the paper reading the words slowly and carefully.

_Sometimes I'm thick  
>Sometimes I make you sick<br>Some days though I get close  
>I get ever so close<br>Then I slip, I slip up  
>I slip on my tongue<br>I slip on my thoughts  
>I get lost in your eyes<br>I get lost in your words  
>I see only your world<br>And I forget my own  
>One day I swear though<br>One day I will  
>I'll tell you the words that make me trip<br>Then I won't stumble  
>You'll hold me up and I you<br>We'll be a pair, a set of two  
>And it'll be not me<br>But me and you_

A grin flashed across her face as she hugged the poem close to her heart and lifted the bears gently, gathering up the chocolates placed around them. She was walking quickly, as if afraid someone would take the beautiful moment from her.

It definitely was not Caesar.

He didn't understand poetry or sappy romanticism (her favorite kind). As she pondered a little more, it seemed to be Captain Callan. He would know a gunshot a mile away, he had the training to get in, and he was definitely the sappy kind when it came to romance!

It had to be him!

She beamed at the walls on her way to her room, positively radiating with glee.

She opened her door gently and arranged the two teddy bears carefully, setting the poem between them. She hummed happily as she changed and crawled into bed. She had no doubts in her mind that it was Captain Callan who was sending her these lovely apologies and preparing for her birthday and acting as a secret admirer. She felt like the belle of the ball.

* * *

><p>Holiday woke up the next day feeling like a ray of sunshine. She hummed happily, running a brush through her hair while lightly scrubbing her teeth and pulling her hair up. She slipped on her white lab coat and sauntered off to the cafeteria.<p>

She grinned, as she approached Captain Callan, humming and swinging her hips lightly.

He gave her an oddly surprised look. "Holiday, what a pleasant surprise to have you join me for breakfast!"

She smiled back. "Well what can I say, it's always good to join a friend for a meal, so why not the most important one of the day?"

He chuckled. "It has been a while since we last spoke! Wait, isn't your birthday three or four days from now?"

Her logic faltered for a second.

If the laptop killer knew when her birthday was and Callan didn't, he couldn't be it…

…unless he was just faking! That had to be it!

She beamed. "One more day Captain actually…Tell me, do you like riddles, Captain?"

Callan thought for a minute, contemplating the answer. "Can't say I do Doctor, I may be a Captain but I am also a soldier and riddles confuse me."

Holiday fought back a pout. "How about poetry?"

Callan thought again, but not as long. "No I don't Doctor… never had a knack for English."

Holiday furrowed her brow and finally made her outburst. "Well why not!"

The poor Captain could only give her a confused look and scratch the back of his blond head.

Six sipped his coffee quietly in the background as Holiday slammed her half empty cup on the table and stormed out.

* * *

><p>Six was shuffling a bit slower today, favoring his right knee.<p>

Yesterday had been too close. She had stopped training too quickly—or maybe he had just been spending too long arranging everything to make it look perfect. Either way, he only heard her when she was almost at the door. In his panic, he had swung himself into the vent a little too violently, crunching his right kneecap against the edge.

As Six crept along, he peeked through the opening into her training room.

Empty.

He sighed. He had been hoping to catch at least a small glimpse of her before continuing on to her office. She still amazed him—her crisp movements, her quick reflexes, the joyful abandon with which she trained. She enchanted him, intrigued him, lured him, captivated him…she brought out emotions that he thought had died a long time ago.

His mind momentarily pre-occupied with her beautiful face, he unconsciously leaned onto his injured knee—earning himself a sharp, stabbing pain in his kneecap. He frowned at his own clumsiness…a frown that twisted into a smirk once again as he remembered another clueless fool. Callan hadn't known what had hit him today! Six had been forced to sip his scalding hot coffee before cooling it down to hide his smirk.

As he peered through the vent opening into her dark secret office, and settled back to wait for her to start training, he fingered a single soft petal, and stared at a smooth surface surrounded by intricate ridges. He ghosted the tips of his fingers across the surface in a loving caress, circling one section in particular.

"It's time to say sorry for all of the other damage I caused you by breaking your laptop." he whispered softly, a sad lilt to his gruff voice.

* * *

><p>She stomped to her office, plopping into her chair while pulling a switch under her desk and listening for the click of the wall panel. She nearly ripped the handle out of the wall as the door slipped open, and she slammed it again angrily.<p>

She hated not being able to solve a puzzle.

Someone was jerking her emotions on a string and she was so sick of it! She picked up her gun, blaming a little bit of PMS and a little bit of the stress she had been under, and began shooting. She didn't bother changing, she didn't bother taking off her boots, she just shot and shot and shot. She relaxed slowly, taking her calming breaths and becoming the Holiday she was outside of this room.

With a few more soothing breaths she stepped toward her office, readjusting her bangs and smoothing her shirt. Holiday placed her gun on its holster and stepped quietly into the office, her eyes lighting up at the pleasant surprise.

A beautiful vase sat on the desk, the dim lights reflecting off the crystal patterns that matched the bright red rose in it.

She sat down admiring it while gently touching the petals. A small card was tied to the stem, a bright red ribbon fastening it in place.

'One more day.'

It was brief and to the point, yet just as touching as the two other gifts.

She breathed in the aroma wafting from the rose. One more day indeed, secret laptop killer, she thought, and then she would find him.

Something in her told her so. And that part of her was rarely wrong.

As she opened her eyes again she noticed a small frame hiding behind the vase, and she gently reached behind the crystal container to grab it. She held before her a picture, one of her as a teenager, her sister standing beside her, her father with a big grin on his face, his hair frazzled, his hands deep in his lab coat, and her mother standing beside him with her hair in a precise bun, a faint smile on her lips.

Just as she remembered them.

She stroked the delicate twists on the silver frame, setting it beside the vase. She allowed herself a moment to reminisce. She felt the tears sting the back of her eyes and stood up, it was no good worrying about the past…

Breathing in deeply she decided to leave the rose and the picture in here, where no one would harm them.

* * *

><p>Holiday yawned slowly, inching up in bed.<p>

Yes, it was her birthday.

Yes, she was thrilled.

But no, she was not going to get up at five in the morning on her only day off.

She slowly, ever so slowly, shifted her muscles, restarting blood flow to all its locations. She snuck out of her bed, slowly shuffling to the shower—happy to see it was eight o'clock.

She emerged from her room at nine o'clock and made her way to the cafeteria to get some leftover coffee. She may not be a cook, but she could use a microwave (well… there was the one potato incident… but that was another story.) She picked up the half-filled pot and slipped it into the microwave, waiting for it to heat.

It's a shame she never got to drink her coffee… much less hear the timer go off.

Rex came flying into the room chanting, "Doctor Holiday! Doc, Doc! You have to come with me!"

Holiday gave him a small smile, "Yes Rex?"

He grabbed her arm in a panic, "Come on! Come with me right now!"

Holiday, being the giving woman she was, decided to humor Rex and let him drag her along. She felt like her arm was getting jerked out of its socket. Rex grinned, slipping into a room after cautioning her to wait outside.

She raised an eyebrow. Six really was wearing off on her.

Rex slid out of the doorway, grinning like the cat that ate the canary. "Come on in Doc!"

He swung the door open as a chorus of cheers blared a loud, "Surprise! Happy Birthday!"

Holiday laughed as Rex set his hands akimbo and grinned proudly. "I set up the whole thing myself. Just for you! I even helped make the cake!"

Rex wasted no time in dragging her around, showing her to each person he had invited to the party. "Come on Doc! Let's play whack the Van Kleiss filled with delicious candies!"

Holiday humored him throughout the entire party, finding she was enjoying it more and more. Rex sat her down at the head of the table while proudly setting a piece of her favorite chocolate cake in front of her—a candle jutting out of it lightly.

"Make a wish Doc!"

Holiday closed her eyes, thinking for a moment. 'I wish I knew who the laptop murderer was…' she thought, and then with a huff and a puff she blew the candle out.

The small table of friends erupted into a horribly off-key rendition of 'Happy Birthday' as Six cut and handed out cake, not bothering to take part in the singing.

With the cake devoured and soda cups empty, Rex decided it was time for present opening. So, before Holiday could protest, he demanded everyone bring their colorfully wrapped gifts and deposit them in front of the birthday doctor. Rex wasted no time in assisting her in the opening process. So, a few new microscope caps, a new pair of boots, and a gun cleaning kit later, all that was left were Rex and Six's gifts.

A bright grin flashed across her face as she opened a box with motorcycle wrapping paper to reveal a big photo of Rex's arms slung around Holiday and Six—Holiday half falling over a stack of papers in her hands and Six looking thoroughly frustrated, and Rex with a huge grin on his face.

Rex set a hand on the back of her chair. "It took me forever to find it, but this way if you ever get amnesia like me, you can look at it and remember me and Six!"

She smiled back at him. "It's perfect Rex."

She picked up the small envelope from the table with her name in simple handwriting. Obviously, it was from Six. She opened it gingerly and then sighed. "A gift card… to Wal-Mart… thank you Six." She couldn't be mad of course. He was Six after all.

Rex gave Six a stink-eye.

Holiday stood up and smiled. "I am going to take these things to my office, I'll be right back." So she loaded up a bag of gifts and presents, and made her way back to her lab. She opened the door with some difficulty and set her bags on the floor.

She was about to leave when something caught her eye. She walked toward it quietly, as though the sound of her footsteps would frighten it away.

She reached out gently and touched the cool gem.

An emerald necklace, on a silver chain… it matched her eyes.

She smiled at it, picking up one of the carefully picked roses from the bouquet beside it. She silently thanked the laptop murderer. No one else would have done this… She picked up the necklace, carefully latching the chain around her neck.

It was too perfect not to wear. She looked carefully down at the box and noted the folded paper that had been hiding under the necklace.

'Perhaps you thought I was counting down to your birthday. I was not though; it is just coincidental that these two things happen on the same day. You will know what else is happening soon enough. Just know Doctor Holiday, you are the greatest thing to ever happen to me.'

She sighed happily, a hand over her mouth and the other on her heart.

No one had ever said anything so sweet to her. Now it wasn't just curiosity. She HAD to know who this man was.

She stood up, carefully setting the note next to the roses, and walked slowly back to the party a hand on her necklace. She just had to find out…

~~~Later..~~~

…and now she was starting to lose hope. The party had been going on for four more hours (how did Rex have time to plan this?) and was finally starting to wind down.

And there was still no sign of her laptop murderer.

She had been scrutinizing everybody at her party, even to the point where a few of the grunts were making a conscious point to scamper away as soon as she approached their general location.

And still no results.

She sighed, leaning against the wall to her lab as everyone filed out, hoisting party hats and still giddy from the excitement of the party.

Rex was the last to leave.

"So, _belleza_, you liked the surprise party? Remember, you owe me one now…"

He smirked and crossed his arms, winking at her. "A dinner date for two will suit me just fine!"

Holiday just laughed, and playfully shoved Rex out of the lab.

She was still smiling at the disappearing teen when a voice floated to her through the darkness.

"Happy birthday Doctor."

She whirled around to face Six standing a mere few feet away from her.

"Six! I thought you were gone!" She recovered somewhat, brushing her bangs out of her still flustered face. "You even went to the trouble to get me a gift." she teased, smiling up at him.

Making no reply, Six simply reached into his jacket and pulled out something that he held out to her, nestled in his palm.

It was a pair of earrings.

A pair of earrings with the same green emeralds as her necklace.

She looked back up at him in shock. How could he have gotten her a pair of earrings that were part of a matched set with her necklace? Unless…

She laughed then, an exuberant outburst that filled the lab with sound.

"So, Mr. Laptop Murderer decides to reveal himself!"

As Six cocked an eyebrow and opened his mouth, Holiday threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

After a moment, she felt his arms circle around her waist and snake up her back. She felt a gentle tug on both of her ears, and felt the cool metal of the earrings press into her neck as she snuggled deeper into Six's embrace. He leaned his face into the crook of her neck, and whispered into her ear.

"You're the best thing that has ever happened to me."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Yes…that was insanely long. T_T **

**Please review! (AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY AGAIN CRAZY!)**


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